Real Wages and Subsistence Costs in Poland at the End of the 16th and First Half of the 17th Century

Abstract

Researching real wages and subsistence costs in early modern societies poses particular methodological difficulties for the economic historian, since no systematic statistical data exist and a large share of consumption rested on own production. The biological unit (Trofa) proposed by Żabiński, based on a caloric basket, proves too schematic, as the proportions of nutritional components varied strongly across social groups.
This article develops a method for determining nutritional costs as an index of real wages in Poland at the end of the 16th and first half of the 17th century, referenced to concrete places, periods, and social groups, and analyzes the differences between the wages of farm servants (Gutsgesinde) in the countryside and day labourers in the town.
The study draws on the accounts of the Wilda and Bonin folwarks near Poznań (1584-1640), rye prices (Poznań quarter), craft product prices (nails, cloth) from Warsaw after Adamczyk, and comparative wage data from Gdańsk, Kraków, and other Polish towns.
Analysis of average daily ration costs shows a considerable nominal rise from ca. 0.88 Gr (1584-1590) to 2.21 Gr (1632-1640), with nutritional costs amounting to 60-80% of total wages. In contrast to the general fall in real wages across Europe in the 16th century, the late 16th century and first half of the 17th century in Poland show a certain stabilization of real wages. Town wages (day labourers) were distinctly higher than rural wages (farm servants), partly explained by the difference between permanent and seasonal employment. The conversion of nutritional costs into craft products shows that subsistence costs fell for the cloth artisan but rose for the peasant, pointing to divergent conjunctural developments for these two social groups.